Ladies Who Lunch

Glam and I had lunch today at one of my fave pizza places. We split a fantastic arugula salad. Among other things, it had fresh corn, goat cheese, red onions, teardrop tomatoes, and smoked bacon in it.

I was happily munching on my greens when I was startled by a scream from Glam.

In my usual unsympathetic Monkey fashion, I gave her a what-the-fuck look.

"My salad! It's moving!"

And, sure enough, I looked over and saw a little red thing wriggling about.

It was a ladybug!

What would you think of this?

After I hear from you, I'll tell you what was on our minds and what we did.

It's Not Too Late

You can still get tickets at the door to Great Chefs of Los Angeles, which is happening tomorrow! Details are in my last post here.

Not convinced yet? Check out My Last Bite's coverage of last year's event!

Great Chefs of Los Angeles

We interrupt this blog to bring you news of a cool event happening this Sunday, November 8 -- The 23rd Annual Great Chefs of Los Angeles!

What's better than an afternoon of food, wine, and music? An afternoon of food, wine, and music that benefits the National Kidney Foundation of Southern California! This year's theme is eco-conscious living and sustainability. Go green! Go organic!

Featured chefs include:

Adam Horton, Saddlepeak Lodge Akasha Richmond, Akasha Andrea Cavaliere, Cecconi's Benjamin Ford, Ford's Filling Station Bob Lynn, La Grande Orange Brain Moyers, BLT Steak Calogero Drago, Celestino Ristorante & Panzanella Celestino Drago, Drago Restaurant, Enoteca Drago, Il Pastaio, Drago Centro Chris Moran, Events D'Elegance David Linville, Charlie's Malibu Frank Leon, LaLoggia Ristorante & Bokado Keven Alan Lee, EAST Restaurant & Lounge Giacomino Drago, Il Pastaio Govind Armstrong, 8 oz. Jason Johnston, Dakota Jesse Perez, Fuego at Hotel Maya Jimmy Shaw, Loteria Grill

Joachim Weritz, Moonshadows Jonathan Burrows, Mr. Cecil's California Ribs Jorge Chicas, The Bazaar – SLS Hotel Josie Le Balch, Josie Restaurant Margarito Cid, Harry's Oklahoma Style Smokehouse BBQ Mary Sue Milliken & Susan Feniger, Border Grill & Ciudad Restaurants Michael Fiorelli, mar'sel Neal Fraser, Grace & BLD Paolo Sicuro, Via Alloro Roberto Maggioni, Lago Sam Marvin & Christopher Goossen, Bottega Louie Restaurant & Gourmet Market Simon Dolinky, BLVD 16 at Hotel Palomar Steven Fretz, XIV Tanino Drago, Tanino Ristorante & Panzanella Ristorante Yoji Tajima, SHU – Sushi House Unico Leyna's Kitchen

In addition to all the delicious food prepared by these chefs, guests will receive reusable gift totes stuffed with $250 worth of green and eco-friendly goodies.

WHEN:
Sunday, November 8
12 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

WHERE:
CBS Studio Center
4024 Radford Drive
Studio City, CA 91604

TICKETS:
Buy tickets directly from the National Kidney Foundation or get them for half price ($75) on Goldstar.

Tasting Table, Urban Daddy, and GrubStreet LA also have special discount codes for 30% off tickets for their readers.

Follow Great Chefs of LA on Twitter! There are deals and contests there, too!

My Friends Are Sweet

On Friday, we had one of our semi-regular help-the-Monkeys-use-up-their-country-club-minimum dinners. dapotato and Wan-nabe both brought tasty homemade treats.

Here is dapotato's creation all wrapped up.


A delicious yellow cake with lemon frosting!

Eat a little slice.

Eat some more.

Mmm. Read about how she made this lovely little cake here.

Wan-nabe brought bacon caramels for everyone. This is how she made them.

Thank you, sweeties.

Thumbs Up to Marriage

Third Anniversary Celebration #1 was a success.

Mr. Monkey is wincing slightly because, despite my photography class, I am still sort of a bumbling idiot when I shoot manually. He held this pose for a pretty long time. In the restaurant. What a guy.

More to come soon.

Jonathan Gold's Union Station Cocktail Party

Good food for good discussion at this October 10 event.

Please report back, so I may live vicariously. Thank you.

Bargain Bites and Reminiscing

After a lackluster dinner the night before, I was determined to redeem myself during brunch. Mr. Monkey had done such a wonderful job planning all other aspects of our trip, the least I could do was give him a good meal.

I was thrilled that it was no longer February when the sun rose. Why? Dine Around Seattle, that's why! I poked around on the site, narrowed down the restaurants that offered Sunday brunch, and figured out which were within walking distance of our hotel.

steelhead diner was the winner.

Can you believe this deal? Score!

We both started with the chicken and andouille sausage gumbo (usual price $7.95). Loved it. Spicy, rich, and delicious!

Mr. Monkey savored his barbecue style pulled pork sandwich (usual price $10.95).

My blackened Idaho catfish with Creole meuniere and tangy cabbage salad (usual price $16.95) made me very very happy. Really tender and well-seasoned.

Mr. Monkey did his best to stuff himself with chocolate pecan pie with cocoa nibs and bourbon chantilly cream (usual price $7.95). Sticky sweet goodness.

I relished each bite of my spiced stout pound cake with strawberries, vanilla pastry cream, and honey drizzle (usual price $8.95).

We marveled that all this cost only $30! And it was fantastic! I definitely rehabilitated my reputation with this meal. Phew.

steelhead diner was just a few steps away from Pike Place Market. Whee!

Almost four years ago, Mr. Monkey proposed to me in Seattle. We had fun revisiting a few places we'd been before.

We walked down to the waterfront just like we did four years ago. Too bad we didn't have time to watch otters at the aquarium this time.


We remembered getting attacked by seagulls at this Ivar's stand in 2005.

On our way to our engagement site, we gawked through the windows at some of the exhibits at the Seattle Art Museum.

And here it is -- the Alexis Hotel -- where Mr. Monkey got down on one knee.


It was such a nice place! Much better than Hotel Max! Bah! Too bad not every weekend can be an engagement weekend, complete with rose petals strewn everywhere.

This concludes our little romp to Victoria and a bit of Seattle. All photos from our trip may be found here. Hope you enjoyed the ride.

Sky High

Mr. Monkey woke up early Saturday and captured the sunrise from our balcony.



We both got in-room spa services. We had to make the most of our time in the suite! Mr. Monkey got a deep tissue massage, and I had a facial. Very relaxing.

I took a few shots of the Japanese garden below before we bid a teary good-bye to our magnificent digs. It pained us to check out. Sigh.

We were off to our next adventure -- a panoramic Harbour Air seaplane tour.

Our sky-high expedition worked up our appetites, so we went to John's Place.

Mr. Monkey enjoyed the John's Place Smoothie ($4.35) with strawberries, yogurt, and pineapple juice.

Fluffy and stuffed with bacon, tomato, and cheddar cheese, the Weekend Meat Omelette ($9.25) pleased Mr. Monkey greatly.

Mr. Monkey also loved his enormous side of corned beef hash ($3.95).

John's Place is known for what it calls the "benny." It's basically eggs benedict. You have the choice of an English muffin or sesame seed bagel as your base. There are 10 types of bennies, including several vegetarian options.

I chose the chorizo sausage benny ($9.95) with the bagel base. The real butter hollandaise sauce was exquisite. Serious yum.

Not long after our late brunch, we boarded the ferry back to Seattle.

Armed with hot chocolate (which, oddly, doesn't give me hives) and Top Chef and Flight of the Conchords on my computer, I had a most pleasant voyage.

During our return trip to Seattle, we even saw some orcas swimming next to our boat. Sadly, I wasn't fast enough with my camera, but at least the sighting was free! We didn't have to pay for a whale watching tour! Ha!

Our next temporary residence was the Hotel Max -- $74 on Hotwire.

The tiny room we got was right across from the elevator. Very noisy. We asked for another room. Mr. Monkey was rather disgruntled and suspected that Rude Front Desk Guy gave us this crappy room because we got a discounted rate via Hotwire. I think Mr. Monkey was right.

Our second room was quieter, but it was only ever-so-marginally larger than the first. Hotel Max is artsy and modern and cool, but its rooms were made for munchkins. We knew it was going to be small, but we didn't think it was going to be *this* small. The bathroom of our palatial suite in Victoria was twice the size of these cramped accommodations. Rude Front Desk Guy claimed there were no more king beds available. Who knows if this was even really true? True or not, he left a really bad taste in our mouths. He was just...not very nice to us.

The housekeeping/do-not-disturb card was cute, though. The room also came with a sweet compilation CD by Sub Pop Records, which included tracks by Mudhoney, Wolf Parade, Fleet Foxes, and my beloved Flight of the Conchords.

The halls of Hotel Max were rad.

I took the elevator to several floors to check things out.

Black-and-white photography adorned each door.

Our floor showcased rock gods like Kurt Cobain, Chris Cornell, Eddie Vedder, and Courtney Love. Our floor was my fave.

After we got settled in, we went to dinner at Palace Kitchen nearby.

The place was dark and bustling. The food was palatable but not outstanding. I couldn't figure out why the restaurant was so popular. At least our server was excellent.

Goat cheese and lavender fondue with grilled bread and apples ($10). Fine.

Pork belly confit with mustard fruits ($12). Delicious but not even close to Animal.

"Plin" a Piedmontese style ravioli filled with roast pork and chard ($18). Decent.

Sauteed Alaskan black cod on rusticella d'abruzzo spaghetti, black olives, and pine nuts ($25). This was my favorite, but it wasn't worth $25.

We weren't impressed enough to try dessert. Palace Kitchen serves good food, but neither the food nor the ambiance matched the prices. A big boo to me for picking this place.

Maybe we've just been spoiled by dineLA. Maybe we've forgotten what non-discounted meals cost.

Or maybe we were still pissed off about Rude Front Desk Guy. He was such a pompous ass. What a blemish on what otherwise would have been a perfectly enjoyable stay! Thankfully, everybody else at the hotel was very friendly and professional.

Next: Eating better food for a much better price and reliving our engagement.